Pre-prepared food products are much in demand by today's consumers. Food products that are pre-cooked and only require final heating before consumption are desired by both household consumers and commercial food establishments. Fried and oven baked foods especially those having a breaded coating are especially popular in the category of pre-prepared products.
Breaded food products were traditionally prepared individually by hand rolling the food product, for example a chicken breast, in a breading preparation. The breading preparation may be wheat flour or corn meal and spices. After the breading is applied, the food product is typically fried or baked.
Anyone who has breaded food products by hand can understand the time consuming and messy nature of the breading process. Prior attempts at mechanical breading apparatus have been largely unsuccessful. Prior art mechanical systems have incorporated drive systems and hydraulics in and around food containing components, thereby subjecting the food products to potential contamination. Additionally, prior art mechanical breading devices have been largely unsuccessful at removing lumps from the breading mixture. As the lumps are recirculated they continue to grow in size and ultimately pass with the breaded product to further food processing stations. If additional resources are not expended in subsequent sorting operations, the lumps of breading will be packaged with the final breaded product and delivered to the customer. Therefore, there exists a need for a quick, efficient and sanitary food breading apparatus capable of removing lumps of breading mixture.
Prior art food breading apparatus do not include a lump removal conveyor for removing lumps in the breading mixture prior to recirculation of the breading mixture. If the lumps are not removed they grow in size during successive recirculation and ultimately pass with the breaded product to further processing stations generating additional waste.
Prior art food breading apparatuses do not include, in a lump removal conveyor, a shaking device to facilitate breaking up loosely coagulated clumps of breading mixture and to shake free any powdered breading mixture only loosely stuck to the exterior of lumps so that increased recycling of usable powdered breading mixture is achieved.
Prior art food breading apparatus also do not include a metering hopper. The metering hopper contributes to the improved quality and consistency of the breaded product by greatly reducing wide swings in moisture content of the breading mixture, thereby allowing consistent adhesion of the breading to the product and providing an even breading coverage and thickness.